Join us for the Big Jewish Music Jam with Cantor Jeff and our Religious School director Deborah Strauss!

Cantor Jeff Warschauer is a graduate of the H.L. Miller Cantorial School at the Jewish Theological Seminary, who has served congregations in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Maine and Ohio. In the Yiddish and klezmer world, Jeff is internationally renowned as one of the foremost exponents of the klezmer mandolin, as an innovator in the development of a klezmer guitar style, as a soulful and expressive singer and as a skillful and inspirational educator. He is on the faculty of Columbia University, and is a Founding Artistic Director and Senior Artistic Advisor of the KlezKanada Institute for Yiddish/Jewish Culture.

Deborah Strauss, CKS’ Nesiyot Education Director, is one of the leading klezmer fiddlers of her generation. She is also an award-winning children’s educator and a highly regarded Yiddish dancer and dance leader. She has performed with the Klezmatics and appears in the film, Theodore Bikel: In the Shoes of Sholom Aleichem. Deborah is co-director of both the instrumental music program and the dance program at Yiddish New York and, with Alan Bern, is the author of Klezmer Duets for Violin and Accordion, published in 2017 by Universal Edition, Vienna.

The Strauss/Warschauer Duo
For over 25 years, Deborah Strauss and Cantor Jeff Warschauer have been at the forefront of the international klezmer and Yiddish music scene. They were both longtime members of the Klezmer Conservatory Band, one of the premiere groups of the klezmer revival, and have performed with legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman on film and in concert. As the Strauss/Warschauer Duo, they have performed to overwhelming acclaim in such diverse venues as the Philadelphia Folk Festival, Great Britain’s Fiddles on Fire, the Jewish Culture Festival in Cracow, Poland, and the Art of Yiddish in Los Angeles with the late actor and singer Theodore Bikel.

Deborah and Jeff are Yiddish speakers, and have researched and collected Yiddish and Hebrew songs and instrumental melodies since the 1980s. They lead some of the most popular klezmer music, Yiddish song and traditional dance workshops throughout North America, and Eastern and Western Europe. Both teach regularly at KlezKanada, Yiddish Summer Weimar, and the Warsaw International Summer Seminar in Yiddish Language and Culture.

Registration is NOT required for CKS members. If you would like to join us as a guest, please let us know by signing up, and bring a non-dairy side dish or dessert to share at our BBQ.